The Good Life

Farrer Residents’ Art Exhibition

11 September 2017

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aged care

ageing

Dementia

Goodwin

Goodwin Farrer

Live-in care

residential care

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George Sautelle House Spring Art Exhibition

Residents of George Sautelle House, Farrer are having an exhibition on Friday 15 September at Farrer to launch their artworks from a body of work created over four years. Goodwin CEO, Sue Levy will be officially opening the exhibition with a resident choir performing.

The exhibition includes paintings, clay sculptures, painted masks, rock paintings and a new Seniors’ Sports Carnival banner. The participants who created the artworks are excited and understandably proud of what they have achieved.

The exhibition also includes poetry created from resident’s reactions to observing art works.

Residents have worked under the tuition of local artist and volunteer, Libby Schick. Libby has noticed while making the artworks, participants’ focus on creativity helps to alleviate their pain, frustrations, worries and depression.

“The residents have developed a new awareness in visual observation and have showed signs of improvement both in their work and understanding of art,” says Libby.

The art sessions included a cultural art program that activities coordinator, Trish Jefcoate facilitated for four years. The cultural art program was designed to educate and enlighten the participants about art practises in different cultures for instance Aboriginal and Egyptian.

“Creating artworks has been a kind of therapy for the residents, helping them overcome feelings of isolation. The art program provides the opportunity for social inclusion and interaction with others. The program is a positive form of self-expression and the process of creating the works is stimulating as the residents share stories and memories during the classes. Ultimately, making the art promotes self-esteem which increases feelings of wellbeing and improves the quality of their life,” says Trish.

From these art sessions an art appreciation group has evolved, inspired by the Art & Dementia Program run by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). Due to the positive results of the NGA Program, George Sautelle House included an art appreciation program into their regular activities calendar. Farrer residents discuss a chosen artwork and share their opinions, observations and feelings regarding the work. From this art group another creative group evolved: the ‘poetry writing inspired by art’ group. The poems will also be on display at the exhibition. Participants discuss an artwork then brainstorm their observations, thoughts, and feelings to create a poem out of the words and ideas discussed.

“The poetry group is another stimulating and creative practise residents love,” says Trish.

The artworks will be on display indefinitely, so residents, family, friends, and visitors can enjoy the wonderful artworks.

Goodwin extends special thanks to:

-Tuggeranong Bunnings for sponsoring the event, with a very special thank-you to Sue Kelly for her assistance with hanging the artworks.
-volunteer Libby Schick who has been facilitating the art group for over 18 months. Farrer residents have been extremely fortunate to have had the artistic tuition of Libby who is one of
Canberra’s local artists. Libby facilitates the painting group every fortnight and sometimes provides extra sessions over a weekend.
-volunteer Yvonne Farr who facilitated the group who produced the banner and clay sculptures.

Residents, families, staff, volunteers are welcome to come along and see Farrer’s creative artists’ works.